For whatever reason...when I think of amazing or impossible shots, I think about shots made by my buddies or myself years ago with air rifles or BB guns....Them were the good old days
The modern air guns of today make common shots that were near impossible yesteryear. I love to reminesce about my early years, and since much of it revolved around shooting...I think you all can relate. Let's hear about some cool shots we made whether it be 50 years ago or yesterday...they are all fun to remember and talk about. I'll start it out....Let's go back in time to the late 1950's....When I was a kid...me and my buddy's Joe and his brother Bob single handedly put many feathered friends on the close to extinction list...at least in our own backyards we did There was always suet piles in the winter to attract the spotsies and starlings and we had plenty of shooting fun all year round. All these targets we had over the years carry some fun memories. We and I am sure all of you guys have made or witnessed shots of all kinds...easy, mediocre, difficult, spectacular and some shots that took just the basic shooting skills required to aim and pull a trigger with an exceptional added dose of blind luck.....Enter Billy Montenyahl, another buddy of ours....Probably around 1959 or '60. He was an experienced shooter as we were, but this shot of his took a little bit extra...We were in Joe's backyard one warm summer day hunting targets of opportunity...birds, chipmunks, butterflies, hovering bumble bees, low IQ squirrels that never learned their lesson on which yards to avoid while travelling the low wires that ran through the entire neighborhood, grasshoppers...you name it and we would shoot it
We were in the single digits of age, maybe 10 or 11 and it was open season on everything. We were using Joe's Daisy pump model #25 and taking turns with shots. For some reason Billy got the idea that Joe and me would wait for a relatively easy or at least a shot that was possible and Billy's turn would be used up on some bird or critter that a .22 could not have reached. Here comes a yonder spotsie and it lands on the HIGH wires running through the 'hood
These wires were in fact high...They were up there to avoid falling tree's and limbs that could come down in any number of type storms we had in Cleveland, Ohio. Not only was this sparrow up very high, but he was also on the far edge of Joe's backyard...maybe even off his Dad's property a bit. Oh man we told Billy...What a shot that would be
That's when Billy said...Oh yea you guys always want me to take my turn on impossible #@+* shots like this. As he was venting his anger towards me and Joe calling us all kinds of names we knew at that age....But, he stepped forward, shouldered the Daisy pump...I can still see his elbow straight out from his body and took the shot. His entire motion and squeezing the trigger probably didn't take two seconds and his cursing us was full throttle through the entire process. The sparrow had to be 60-70 yards from the BB guns muzzle and way up there on the high wire...Billy shoots, we here impact and the spotsie drops like a rock. I wish I had a picture of Billy's face as he handed the pump over to Joe and said...It's your turn now
...with a big smile on his face. We all three ran across the yard to gather up Billy's trophy shot and that sparrow was nailed right in the side of his head. I don't know how it could be in this day and age...but I hope kids are having half the fun we had while growing up way back then. ....And let me add one shot of my own.... some years had slipped away and we had graduated from daisy's to Sheridan .20 caliber pellet guns. These sheridans were artillery pieces back in the 60's and were capable of great shots....I had been a bad boy for whatever reason and my Dad took my sheridan away and hid it...in plain view in his closet
Of course, like all good kids I used it at will...and then put it back in dad's closet. I had just gotten it officially handed back to me and I was shooting neco wafers in the back yard....and Dad was washing the car in the front driveway.I was trying to be good and most birds back then helped me out by traversing a wide course around my yard. The critters knew my yard as an impact area and avoided it all costs
Well, I had my usual 8-10 pumps in my sheridan and ready to shatter another neco...but wait...what is this...It's a pigeon flying a direct course from riverside school house over my property. Not just some ordinary pigeon either. Not the blue and purple necked variey...but a white pigeon with black mottled spots. He came flying over well above the high wires that transversed the neighborhoods, but still low enough to become a target of opportunity. As all living critters in the hood back then...he knew he was 'chancing' it, but must have figured he was safe enough at that altitude. I forgot about neco wafers and my dad washing the car and instinctively raised the sheridan and drew a bead. Old mottly pigeon must have thought me to be a little insane to be giving him any attention, as he did not land on the wires, but was in flight. But he also was probably was a little anxious at my behavior of aiming in his direction. I pulled the trigger...and heard impact! I knew from experience exactly where I hit him. He just did not fold up and fall...but he stopped in mid air, spread his wings straight out and just began to spiral down in slow circles. I knew I had hit him probably in the neck or possibly his head. He was dead on impact from that 5mm pellet, but provided quite a show. I worried about my dad seeing this spectacle, but it was worth the shot....I watched as he spiraled down almost to my feet...straight down
I gathered him up and admired my handi work and then put him in a brown paper lunch bag. I had shot him straight through the neck. I road my bike up Westland path and deposited him right in the middle of the path. I knew my buddies Joe and Bob would eventually go through the path and see my 'shot'. And sure enough, it was later that day and I got a call from Joe...saying you shot that white pigeon...didn't you
Oh man....the memories we have of growing up and some of the shots we took. I love this stuff and hope a few of you will add a few special shots of your own
